The Dixie Bee-Liners will be the guest on this next coming week’s edition of Studio Special on XM Satellite Radio’s Bluegrass Junction. They’ll perform songs from their latest Pinecastle CD, RIPE, featuring their currently popular single, Down On The Crooked Road, and discuss the new project with host Kyle Cantrell.

The show debuts on Friday (7/11) at 8:00 a.m. (EDT), with several addition rebroadcasts over the course of the next week.

I contacted the artistic brain trust of the band, the singing/songwriting team of Brandi Hart and Buddy Woodward, to get their impressions of their first-time visit to the XM Nashville studio.

Buddy: Probably the most exciting part of our journey to XM Radio — and by “exciting,” I mean the Physiological definition (to stimulate or produce increased activity or response in an organ, tissue or nervous system) — was trying to park our 20-foot tour van in their tiny concrete carpark without, a.) bashing in the side paneling, b.) bashing in someone else’s side paneling, or, c.) knocking down the support columns, causing major structural failure and ultimate building implosion.

Brandi: They might have dropped us from the playlist after that.

Buddy: That’s not to say we weren’t excited about our upcoming performance on XM’s Studio Special series. We are all fans of Bluegrass Junction, and were looking forward to meeting Kyle Cantrell.

Brandi: He turned out to be a “lovely chap,” as our banjo player, Sam Morrow, would say — and the staff couldn’t have been nicer.

Buddy: We were presented with a veritable smorgasbord of mouth-watering vintage ribbon microphones to choose from, quickly decided on a set list, and before we had a chance to get butterflies, they were rolling. Songs were played, jokes were told, stories embellished, instruments identified, and coffee slurped. Veni, Vidi, Vici. And then it was off to the International Market for a Thai lunch and many cans of coconut soda.

Brandi: Sadly, nobody thought to bring a camera to the studio, but we do have artistic representations, expertly rendered by a well-respected southwestern Virginia illustrator. These images were specially commissioned by The Dixie Bee-Liners to allow readers of The Bluegrass Blog to relive every death-defying moment of that day with us.

Buddy: Does my hair really look like that from the side…???

Brandi: No comment.

Illustrations by JD Morrow, 7 year old son of Bee-Liners banjo picker, Sam Morrow.

Catch the show’s debut on Friday at 8:00 a.m., or during one these encore presentations (all times EDT).

• Saturday (7/12) - 11:00 a.m.
• Sunday (7/13) - 6:00 p.m.
• Monday (7/14) - 8:00 p.m.
• Tuesday (7/15) - Midnight (technically Wednesday morning)
• Thursday (7/17) - 3:00 p.m.